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Reuters Staff Worried About ‘Drift and Uncertainty’

In a meeting with Reuters Washington Bureau reporters within the last hour, Washington Bureau Chief Simon Denyer announced his departure for WaPo and India. At the meeting, he admitted to staff that he missed writing and more specifically missed covering India. A source within the bureau who wished to remain anonymous told FishbowlDC that staffers are generally concerned about what this means for the immediate future. “It’s safe to say we’re worried about entering another long period of drift and uncertainty, as we did for a long time before he arrived,” the source said. …”I liked the guy and thought he did a good job.”

Denyer informed staff that his primary reason for leaving was his desire to do more writing and less administration work. He also tried to assure employees that Reuters intends to fill his job as soon as possible so there is a short period of vacancy at the top. Our spy remarked, “It would be nice if what he says is true and the next bureau chief won’t be making more drastic changes.”

More on what Denyer has accomplished…

“He said that while he was tasked with making big changes, his successor’s job will be to consolidate things. He has made a lot of changes: while the last Bureau Chief stuck mostly to the business/administrative side of things, Simon took a more active role in shaping news coverage, and added a deputy, Kristin Roberts, to oversee the day’s top stories. Personally, I think we do a much better job of prioritizing news stories now,” the Reuters D.C. bureau source informed.

“He also tried to raise the bureau’s profile both within the company (the classic New York/Washington rivalry) and in Washington itself, with his daily Reuters Washington Extra newsletter.”